Bonjour,
Victoria from Techpoint here,
Here's what I've got for you today:
- CBN revokes over 4,000 BDC operating licences
- inDrive rolls out commission fees for drivers in Bostwana
- MTN Nigeria reports a $112.37 million loss in 2023
CBN revokes over 4,000 BDC operating licences
Remember when the Central Bank of Nigeria announced new guidelines for Bureau De Change (BDC) operators?
I’ve got an update: The CBN has officially cancelled its jurisdiction's operating licences for 4,173 BDC operators.
The apex bank cited non-compliance with specific regulatory guidelines as the reason for the revocation, as disclosed in a statement by the Director of Corporate Communications at the bank.
For context, the impacted BDCs neglected to adhere to at least one of the specified regulatory provisions, which include:
- Payment of all required fees, including licence renewal, within the timeframe specified in the Guidelines.
- Submission of accurate returns as per the Guidelines.
- Adherence to the guidelines, directives, and circulars issued by the CBN, with a particular emphasis on compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), and Counter-Proliferation Financing (CPF) regulations.
Furthermore, the list of affected BDCs has been made public on the CBN’s official website.
inDrive rolls out commission fees for drivers in Bostwana
Remember this? Bolt launches in Bostwana
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Here’s a recap if you don’t remember: Bolt launched in Botswana on February 28 to take on inDrive, which has been in the Southern African country since 2019.
Ogheneruemu informed you that as part of the rollout, Bolt will waive its standard 15-20% commission fee for drivers for six months.
Before Bolt entered Bostwana, inDrive, the only ride-hailing company in the country, did not charge its drivers a commission.
However, on the same day that the Estonian e-hailing company entered Botswana, inDrive introduced a 10% commission fee for drivers after five years of operation.
This competition appears to be intriguing, especially given inDrive's decision to implement commission fees concurrently with Bolt's launch, which notably waived such fees for drivers.
If you are wondering why inDrive implemented a 10% commission fee last week, the ride-hailing company said doing so is part of a broader strategy to boost investments in Botswana, which the company considers a "top priority market."
Sidebar Alert: In January, Bolt announced its expansion into Harare, Zimbabwe, waiving driver commissions for six months.
In contrast, inDrive disclosed that same month that it would begin providing financial services products in developing markets where it operates, including small loans to drivers.
MTN Nigeria reports a $112.37 million loss in 2023
Last week, MTN Group cautioned shareholders that it anticipated a significant decline in its earnings for 2023 due to forex losses in Nigeria.
The telco reported that the Nigerian naira's sharp depreciation had a significant impact on its numbers despite its strong operational performance for the fiscal year ending December 2023.
In the fiscal year 2023, MTN Nigeria declared a significant loss before tax of ₦177.8 billion ($112.37 million), which is a noticeable decline from the previous year's ₦518.8 billion ($327.99 million) pre-tax profit.
MTN Nigeria encountered a difficult year, despite some positive outcomes such as an increase of 5.3% in total subscribers to 79.7 million and a rise of 12.7% in active data users to 44.6 million.
The primary cause of this unprecedented loss that depleted shareholder funds is a massive foreign currency loss of ₦740 billion ($467.67 million), a significant increase from the ₦81 billion ($51.19 million) reported in 2022.
Service revenue shot up by a hefty 22.4% to ₦2.5 trillion ($1.75 billion), and EBITDA grew by 12.3% to ₦1.2 trillion ($758.39 million). The company incurred a loss after tax of ₦137 billion ($86.58 million), primarily due to a net forex loss.
Adjusted profit after tax (PAT), factoring out the forex loss, dipped by 14.3% to ₦344.5 billion ($217.72 million). Earnings per share (EPS) also suffered, dropping to a negative ₦6.38 kobo (₦16.56 kobo adjusted for the forex loss, down 14.1%).
Moreover, other factors affecting earnings include impairment losses, gains on disposals, and various non-operational items.
Last week on Techpoint Africa
- CBN Vs Crypto: The full gist
- American payment platform, Strike expands to Nigeria amid clampdown on crypto platforms
- MTN partners Mastercard to launch MoMo virtual cards for Africa
- South African AI-driven customer service platform Cue secures $2 million in seed funding
- How to get into VC: Insights from HealthCap founder, Dr. Ola Brown, at the Dream VC Lagos mixer
- Court orders Vodacom to pay up to $2.8 billion to the brain behind the popular Please Call Me service
- Bolt drivers in Botswana will work for 6 months without paying commission
- 5 laws every HR professional and employer in Nigeria should know (Part 1)
- South African regulator orders Canal+ to bid for remaining shares in Multichoice
- What the CBN's MPR hike means for the Nigerian startup ecosystem
- Egyptian fintech MoneyHash gets $4.5 million seed to facilitate payments in Africa
- Equitel becomes the first MVNO to roll out 5G in Kenya
- COTU Ventures to invest $54 million in early-stage startups across the MENA region
- Flutterwave appoints its first independent, non-executive board member
- Universal Music Group acquires majority stake in Mavin Global to boost Nigerian music globally
- Proposed Bureau de Change guidelines promise increased digitisation but could spell the end for many operators
- Pitch Friday: The anatomy of a winning startup idea
- Dream VC opens up applications for 2024 venture capital training programmes
- Paramount+ to launch in Africa following MultiChoice agreement
- Ogun State and Spiro to complete 13 swap stations for electric bikes in 6 months
- Seacom faces subsea cable disruption, impacting Kenya and Egypt
- Mastercard and Awash Bank partner to launch enhanced payment options in Ethiopia
- Moov and Airtel partner to connect 200 underserved villages in Gabon
What I'm reading and watching
- Facebook will remove its News tab and stop paying publishers for news
- Scientist Reacts to "Debunking Evolution" Video
- LGBTQ Woman Asks TOUGH QUESTION - CRITICAL Reponse
Opportunities
- Pitch Friday is Friday, March 8, 2024. To attend, register here.
- Medallion is looking for a remote Product Designer. Apply here.
- Vetcove is hiring a Software Engineer. Apply here.
- Ondo Finance is recruiting a remote Product Manager. Apply here.
- TeamSnap is recruiting a Software Engineer. Apply here.
- Rentable is hiring a Product Manager. Apply here.
- Voltus is hiring a remote Product Designer. Apply here.
- Have you ever invested in a crowdfunding platform like Farmcrowdy before? If yes, kindly take a few minutes to answer 8-10 questions here.
- Kenyan startups focused on embedded finance, future fintech, SME productivity tools, and content like local gaming and mobile advertising can apply for Safaricom’s Spark Accelerator programme. For more information, check this out.
- The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) is looking for an editor to support the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship. Apply here.
- Application for the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) Class of 2025 is now open. Check out the one-year, fully sponsored, graduate-level programme in tech entrepreneurship here before March 18, 2023.
- Do you live in Nigeria and work with a local or foreign company? Whether it's remotely, on-site, hybrid, full-time, part-time or as a freelancer, @TheIntelpoint is trying to understand the Nigerian workspace: how you work, and toxicity in the workspace among others. Please, fill out the questionnaire here.
- Explore this website to find multiple job opportunities in Data that align with your preferences.
- If you are a software engineer, creative designer, product manager, design researcher, or a techie looking for an internship role, please, check out this website.
Have a productive week!
Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa.
